The Benefits of Batch Cooking

Preparing meals can take a lot of time. Most likely you don’t have time in your weekly schedule to make healthy meals nor do you want to use the time you do have in this manner. I don’t blame you!

If you don’t want to invest time every day preparing meals, batch cooking is a great solution. It’s just like it sounds, cooking in large batches. You cook or prep a bunch of food at once and use it throughout the week.

Batch Cooking Ideas

There are a variety of ways you can approach batch cooking. I will share a few but feel free to expand on my ideas and implement what works best for you.

If you make a weekly meal plan, you can prepare items for multiple meals at the same time.

Pick a recipe and double it. Either cut up and prep everything for it and assemble and cook it during the week. Or make it ahead and reheat it. Place the rest in serving size containers and freeze them.

Cut vegetables and place in containers in the refrigerator. You can use these for salad, snacks or a stir fry during the week. Use a food processor to speed up the process.

Hydrate beans and place in containers in the refrigerator. Prepare them in an Instant Pot so they don’t have to be attended while cooking. Make enough so they can be used for multiple meals.

Cook a larger quantity than normal of a whole drain, like quinoa, brown rice or farro and and place in containers in the refrigerator or freeze in serving size containers. I recommend using the instant pot to cook these as well.

Use the beans and grain in a similar way to the vegetables by mixing and matching them to make multiple meals and then assemble a buddha bowl at the end of the week with whatever ingredients are left.

Label everything you put in the freezer, along with the date, so you can identify what it is. It can be hard to remember what every container holds. Thaw in the refrigerator for a few days before eating.

Are you getting the idea? Buy, cook, and prep ingredients in bulk and repurpose them with different flavor profiles and combinations. If you go a little overboard when batch cooking an item, freeze it for later.

Benefits of Batch Cooking

Save time and money

Stock your refrigerator with ingredients to assemble easy meals throughout the week

Stock your freezer with ready made meals or ingredients to eat at a later date